Firefly: Macrocosm
by Master Alabe
Summary: Post Serenity. The crew of Serenity struggle to cope with the loss of Shepard Book and Wash. However, life must go on... and the crew still know so little about River. Could it be there is something more to her existence? Please R
1. Ignoring the Tears

This is my first Firefly fanfic, and is set a couple of weeks after 'Serenity'. Initially my idea is to see how the remaining crew are coping with the loss of both Book & Wash. A more prominent storyline (i.e. 'big bad') will most likely come afterwards, providing people don't hate my story :-)

Hope you all enjoy, and please don't forget to leave a review to let me know what you think!

**Disclaimer: All characters & backstories related to Firefly & Serenity are owned by Joss Whedon, Fox & Universal**

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1. Ignoring the Tears**

"Jayne! Jayne! Gorram it... he's never around when you need him."

Mal paced impatientally through his ship; stopping at every door long enough to thrust his head into each doorway, frantically searching for Jayne. It had seemed recently that Jayne had been more distant than usual. At times like these, however, Mal wanted nothing else but for the crew to pull together... especially since the incident with Wash. Things had never _really_ got back to normal without him, the void he left simply being too big to conceal.

"Damn it! Do I have to do everything myself around here?" Mal stormed through the living quarters and up towards the bridge. Slowing his pace, he quietly entered the bridge and looked around. Glancing over at the co-pilot's seat, he noticed a shadow cast over the control panel.

"Zoe? That you?" He asked calmly.

The figure in the chair jolted, and quickly stood up, turning around startled.

"Oh... captain. You scared me, sneaking up on me like that. Is something the matter?" The relieved Zoe inquired. Mal noticed her eyes were glazed over and her cheeks a little reddened, but decided not to pry. Zoe had gone through a lot recently, so it was hardly surprising that even _she_ would need time to grieve.

"Oh... no nothing..." Mal's eyes wandered the room, his brain searching for something worthwhile to say. He hated feeling uncomfortable around people, and normally in this sitation would just react brusquely... but he found himself trying harder with Zoe. Perhaps, in his mind... he could see that he was all she had left. "... I've been looking for Jayne. Need to make the drop soon, gotta get suited up. But, at this rate... looks like I'm going solo. I can't find him _anywhere_! Have you seen him?"

"I saw him about an hour ago, climbed down into his bunk. He's been spending a lot of time there recently." Zoe replied, hoping that Mal would stop trying so hard and leave her be. True, he was all she had left... but sometimes people just need to be alone. She especially hoped he hadn't noticed the tears, the last thing she wanted was her closest friend thinking she was weak. "Perhaps you should try there, I'm sure he hasn't moved."

Mal saw in her eyes she wanted to be alone. After all, he had known her so long... by now he ought to know when his friend doesn't want him around. He looked down at his feet, and slowly brought his eyes back up to meet hers.

"Okay, thanks... I'll go look. How long til we land?" He would have left there and then, giving Zoe her space. But, business is business... and this drop was hardly straight-forward. Zoe let out a little sigh, small enough that she hoped Mal wouldn't notice. Sitting back in the chair, she swivelled around til she faced the control panel once more.

"You've got about two hours... better hurry." Trying her best to conceal her emotions, she remained facing the control panel, a tear beginning to roll down her cheek.

"Right, thanks. I'll go then." Mal turned and walked quietly towards the living quarters. As he did so, he heard a murmer... and sobbing. He knew it was Zoe, but he wouldn't let her know he noticed. _'Obviously she waited for me to leave for a purpose'_ he reasoned.

- - - -

Mal found himself at Jayne's bunk, or at least the door to Jaynes bunk. _'Why didn't he reply when I shouted here just now?'_ He asked himself, peering down into the entrance of the bunk. He was tempted to simply clamber down the ladder and surprise Jayne, but after a little forethought he reasoned he had better give him some kind of warning first.

"Captain coming down... all magazines and substances are to be hidden out of view." Mal spoke aloud with a big grin.

"Ah! Uh... wait a sec, just a few sec's! I'm... getting changed! Yeh, thats right..." Jayne's voice showed clear angst, and Mal decided to soak up all the laughs he could. Listening closely, Mal could hear draws opening, closing; bottles being moved... generally the normal sounds you would expect, from a teenager still living with his parents.

"Ready or not, here I come!" Mal was clearly loving this, torturing Jayne was such fun sometimes.

"Gorram! Wait one more second... there! You won't find anything out of order down here captain." Jayne stated, looking across his bunk into Mal's brooding eyes.

"Relax Jayne, I don't give a damn what you do, or what you keep for that matter... down here. This bunk is your space, you do with it as you wish. You know that!" Mal smiled, seeing the anger in Jaynes eyes.

"Well, you know, I don't think straight sometimes... kinda mean to shout stuff like that down at me! I could have been doin' anythin'!" Jayne tryed his best to defend himself, he so hated being made to look stupid.

"Yeh... and on that note, where the hell have you been? I've been shouting for hours! You decided just not to listen anymore? 'Cause you're not in a position to decide that..." Mal suddenly became very serious, evidentally feeling unhappy with Jayne's lack of input and general effort in the past weeks.

"Aw... come on Mal! We've been workin' non-stop for the last three weeks! Give us all a break will ya'?" Jayne returned in an exhausted manner.

"Ha! You mean _me_ and _Zoe_ have been working non-stop for the past three weeks! You've been busy down here with your magazines and beer!" Mal exploded overwhelmed, laughter filling his voice.

"... I'm sorry Mal... I guess I've had a lot of stuff on my mind lately... yeh'?" Jayne conceded. At least this way he'd get away scott free with Mal feeling sorry for him.

"... I guess that's understandable. But we've all gone through it Jayne, we just fought through it, never giving in. I expected the same from you... at least." Mal turned and climbed onto the first rung of the ladder. He stopped, still facing the ladder.

"We land on Beylix in less than two hours. Do me **and** you a favour, spend that time getting suited up and ready to make the drop. I'm gonna need some spare guns... and I'm getting tired of asking Zoe to do **your** job for you."

Mal continued to climb the ladder. Reaching the top, he made his way towards the engine room. A small smile emerged from the corner of his mouth, as he began to consider what could lay ahead.

_'Been a while since I've been to Beylix... hope they all still remember me. We could be in for some fun.'_

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_Hope you all liked the first chapter. I know it's not really that long, but I just wanted to try and get to grips with these characters... as I've never wrote for them before. Next chapter will see River, Simon & Kaylee... perhaps Inara as well. Oh, and Serenity will land on Beylix too :-) 

Again, hope you enjoyed... and please leave a review, good or bad! I'm happy to recieve constructive critisism :-)

Seeya!


	2. Arrival On Beylix

Thanks to all those who reviewed chapter one, I appreciate all of your feedback :-)

This chapter will include some more familiar faces, I hope you all like it! If so, or even if you don't... please write a review and let me know just what you think!

Here goes, chapter two. Hope you all enjoy!

**Disclaimer: All characters & backstories related to Firefly & Serenity are owned by Joss Whedon, Fox & Universal

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2. Arrival On Beylix **

Mal sat in the dining area, his feet resting atop the table. His head tilted to one side, his eyes closed... a feint breath every ten or so seconds was all that could be heard. His right arm hanging losely from his body, he held tightly within his hand a green apple... a large bite having already been taken from it. He seemed so peaceful, Kaylee could hardly muster up the courage to wake him.

"God, he's been workin' himself so hard lately..." She whispered to herself, as she made her way across to where he was sleeping from the entrance to the room. "Cap'n. Cap'n, wake up..."

Kaylee gently held Mal by the shoulder with her left hand, shaking his body in hope of awakening him. Heavy footsteps could be heard approaching from behind her; and as they became clearer, the figure stopped, leaning against the doorframe.

"You'll never wake him like that. You gotta' be more forceful, not so deinty like you like to be around him... give him a shove!"

The voice was Jayne's, as Kaylee shortly noticed after having turned around to face him. A look of displeasure became evident in her expression as she began to reply to Jayne.

"Then maybe you could wake him, if you know so much? Come on... I've got work to do you know."

Kaylee smiled at Jayne, hoping to coax him into doing this chore. Jayne stood up straight from his position leaning against the doorframe, and rolled his left shoulder; a look of strain appearing in his face. He was obviously bearing a weakness there. He began walking towards Kaylee, his footsteps heavy and perhaps even a little clumsy.

"If you think I'm that stupid, then you're mistaken girl. I'm no fool, I wake him up now and he'll be his old cranky self. I'll end up hittin' him to stop his moanin' and then we'll be in the same boat... only then he'd be on the floor instead of in his chair."

Jayne laughed as he said his final words, by now walking over towards Mal. Leaning down, he grabbed the apple out of Mal's hand. Lifting it to his mouth, he took a bite. "Waste not, want not... and all that..." he blurted, his mouth full of apple. Smiling at Kaylee, he turned and walked off in the direction of the medical room.

"You'd better wake him soon, he's gotta' be ready for the job in ten minutes." Jaynes words echoing through the hull of the ship as he walked away.

"Ughhh... oh man... Kaylee? That you?"

Mal rubbed his eyes twice, and pulled himself up to his feet. Looking on the table, at his hand, and then around about him on the floor... a look of utter confusion appeared in his expression.

"Zao gao! Where the hell's my apple?"

Kaylee allowed herself to giggle, but surpressed her laughter when Mal's expression became far more serious.

"Damn, forget the apple... what's the time? We landed yet?"

Kaylee prepared a more serious tone within her voice.

"Not yet captain, that's why I'm here. Zoe said we're getting ready to make our decent, said you'd better make sure you're all ready." Kaylee paused for a moment, searching her mind for what else she had meant to say. "Oh, and I've patched up the cooling drive... she'll hold til we can get our hands on a new one on Beylix. We are getting a new cooling drive, right? Remember, I told you about two hours ago?"

Mal looked a little confused, and then his mind sprung into action.

"Of course! It's way up there on my list of thing to do. Finish the job, not get killed, get the money, and cooling drive. Lets just wait til we finish the job first though, 'kay? Seems the job is slightly more important than our engine troubles at this moment in time."

A look of concern emerged in Kaylee's expression. Mal obviously didn't see the importance of this particular piece of the ship.

"Fine... do what you want. But make sure you remember this: Serenity ain't goin' _nowhere_ without a new cooling drive. Her engine'd overheat and we'd be burnt to a crisp falling back to the planet's surface in no time. Of course... you're the cap'n."

A smile edged its way onto Kaylee's face. Looking at Mal, standing there speechless... she chose her moment and left for the engine room. Mal continued to simply stand there, trying to realise why he had just let Kaylee speak to him like that. He'd have a chat with her after the job. Right now, _it_ was **far** more important.

- - - -

**(Five minutes later - Bridge)**

"Sir, you might want to hold onto something... I'm not as good at this as Wash was."

Zoe began thrashing away at buttons with one hand, whilst holding the controls with the other. Serenity began shuddering violently, Mal almost losing his footing, grabbing onto the back of the pilot's chair in an attempt to remain standing.

"Yeh, I can see that... maybe I'll just find a place to sit down!" Mal shouted at the top of his voice. The noise was unbareable, as the ship began shaking and shuddering even more violently. After having sat in the co-pilots seat, Mal strapped himself in and looked over towards Zoe.

"I've seen you fly a boat before, you were never this bad!"

Zoe took her gaze away from the controls for a second, and looked over at Mal.

"Sir... you may be forgetting the amount of stress this is putting on the engine? Kaylee said we'd be lucky to make a completely safe landing."

Mal couldn't beleive his ears.

"What? I can't believe this! That girl needs a good talking to..."

Zoe returned her focus to the controls. Adjusting a button above her head, she strapped herself into the chair, bracing herself for what seemed could be a pretty rough landing.

"Sir, if I could make a suggestion... maybe we make sure we live through this landing before we start pointing fingers!"

Mal grabbed hold of the sides of his chair tightly, gritting his teeth. Lifting his head up, he looked out of the cockpit, seeing the ground rushing towards him.

"Kuang zhe de!" He closed his eyes. He held on even tighter, as the force on his body began slowly pulling him up, out of his seat. "Wo de ma..." the last words that Zoe heard from Mal.

Seconds later, a breath of relief escaped Zoe's lungs.

"Captain, we're leveling out. I think I might be getting the hang of this..." Zoe looked over at Mal, a huge smile stretching from side to side of her face.

"ha ha! We're okay! Well done Zoe, lets take it easy now... slow her down a touch. Looks like there's a nice big patch of flat land right there... ain't that just shiny!" The relief could be seen by Mal's expression, he truely thought that they had been in trouble.

"It's where we planned to land all along... sir." Zoe allowed a little giggle to escape. It was too late, Mal suddenly realised what had happened.

"Wait... no, you didn't. KAYLEE! If you think you can get away with this..." The anger in Mal's voice was overpowering. Zoe could barely contain herself any longer, suddenly bursting out into a fit of hysterical laughter.

The speakers above Zoe's head began hissing... as a voice began to speak.

"I hope you enjoyed our little test cap'n, seems all of us reacted very well to the situation, don'tcha think?" The voice was Kaylee's, laughter could be heard between almost every other word. "Don't you be forgetting to buy that cooling drive... coz if I hadn't patched ours up... we'd be a little flater than we are right about now."

Mal's face began turning red. He was enraged, but still tightly buckled into his seat, as they were still declining... be it fairly safely at this moment. He grabbed hold of the nearest reciever and held in the button.

"Okay... I get the idea, buy a cooling drive. But when I get back, me and you are gonna' have a heart to heart on what's proper conduct missy."

"Sounds like fun to me... see you then!" Kaylee chuckled a little, as the speakers hissed a little and deactivated.

Zoe turned to Mal, opening her mouth to speak. Mal jumped down her throat before she even had chance however.

"Not a word."

"...But sir..."

"Zoe... NOT A WORD."

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**(Beylix surface - 14:27 local time)**

Mal stepped outside of Serenity, walking down the metal ramp towards the dusty ground. Looking around cautiously, he stepped off the ramp, and took a deep breath in.

"Ahhhhh... Beylix. Long time no see my friend."

As Mal admired the montrous moutains and the beautiful blue sky, he heard feint footsteps approaching him from within the ship. The footsteps were rythmic, seeming to be placed into a specific time signature.

"You're going? You'll need help."

River stood behind Mal, her head tilted downwards. As Mal turned around to face her, her eyes looked up to him from her dejected posture.

"You won't be safe, the mountains have eyes."

She lowered her head still more, now looking directly at her feet. She wasn't wearing shoes, so her bare feet were beginning to collect dirt.

"...Are there snipers in these mountains? Is that your meanin'?"

Mal took hold of her by the chin with his right hand, pulling her head upwards so he could see her face.

"If that's your meanin'... I need to know. I can't risk my crew by walkin' through these mountains... if that's your meanin'..."

River closed her eyes. Mal could literally see her pupils moving, left then right, up then down. It looked like she was dreaming, but stood up. Her eyes stopped moving, and she slowly opened them again, looking up at Mal with a withdrawn face.

"The eyes can shoot thunderbolts through your skull."

Mal, taken aback a little by River's words, realised that he was right; River meant there were snipers in the mountains. He took his hands and placed them firmly on her shoulders.

"River, whatever would I do without you? Eh?"

River smiled, and turned... skipping away back into the belly of the ship. Mal followed, walking at a fair pace. Reaching the inside of the ship, he closed the loading bay doors and found the nearest reciever. Turning on the loudspeaker, he began to talk:

"Zoe, Jayne... change of plan. The pass through these moutains ain't safe... so we're gonna fly around 'em. I know I said before I didn't want to draw any attention to ourselves, but this is the only way that's safe. We'll park her up somewhere closer to town."

Jayne ran through to the cargo hold. He saw Mal stood at the reciever and ran up to him.

"What the hell you mean... 'the pass through these mountains ain't safe'? No one knows we're even here! Didn't we come here just to drop off some goods? We weren't plannin' on actually seein' anyone were we?"

Mal looked at Jayne bemussed. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. He thought a little, and then spoke.

"How exactly did you assume we were gonna get paid? They're not gonna just leave our money under a rock somewhere! This situation is no different to what happened last time we visited Whitefall."

Jayne thought deeply, and began to smile at Mal.

"You want me to stalk some snipers again? Gorram, I loved using those guns! Should'a kept one for myself last time..."

Mal was quick to step in.

"Don't get carried away. You just heard me say we're flyin' **around** the mountains, not passin' through. My aim is to avoid any fightin'... at least til after we get our money. I know this planet well, our destination is just through the pass... but if it ain't safe, we go around. I don't wanna take any undue risks."

Jayne sighed, and looked Mal directly in the eyes. "... Okay, sure. You're the captain."

Mal stared right back at Jayne, and noticed the arrogance in Jayne's voice.

"Damn right. Now go and get ready... I have to go and give Zoe directions."

Jaynes stared coldly into Mal's eyes. He let out a breath heavily, showing his disregard for Mal's authority, and shrugged his shoulders. Turning his gaze towards the floor, he smiled and laughed a little, and then turned and walked in the direction of his bunk.

"You've got five minutes... don't make me come after you." Mal shouted after him. Shaking his head, he held the reciever up to his mouth, again holding in the button.

"Zoe? I'm comin' up there... you'll need some directions."

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Okay then, that was chapter two in it's entirity. I understand it was a bit long, with not much happening... and I apologise for that. The next couple of chapters will concentrate far more on action than character development, so please don't give up on me yet! lol. 

Hope you all enjoyed it though, again... please let me know what you thought by way of review :-)

Seeya!


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